New Book: Khomeini Personally Ordered the Explosion of the American Passenger Plane

Thirty years ago, 11 residents of an unnamed village in Scotland, busy with their daily lives in anticipation of Christmas, were sent to the realm of oblivion in a death they could never have imagined; a giant airplane had unexpectedly collapsed upon them; 243 passengers and 16 crew members, who still had hours of flight ahead to reach their destination, met their sudden death in the ruins of this remote village. The Pan Am Boeing 747, registered as N739PA, on flight 103 from Frankfurt, Germany, to Detroit, was scheduled to depart from Heathrow Airport in London at 6:25 PM after picking up passengers along the way, and was supposed to first reach New York before heading to its final destination in Detroit. Many of the passengers were young, boisterous American students eager to return home from Europe, particularly from universities in Britain, for the Christmas holidays; the flight attendants had just begun serving the first drinks. Just 38 minutes into the flight from Heathrow, the speedy jumbo jet was crossing the skies over Scotland; somewhere far away, Ellen Topp at the control tower incredulously saw the plane go off course and disappear from her screen. The Christmas and New Year dreams of all aboard, whether in the air or among the villagers, vanished in an instant. That day, December 21, was four days before Christmas. The village of Lockerbie gained notoriety that day, but due to the grim fate. Shortly after the end of the Iran-Iraq War and amidst multiple crises in the Middle East and North Africa, the blame for this bombing was directed at several groups and governments; numerous suspects, all sharing a common anti-American stance. From Hezbollah, allied with Iran and the Palestinians, to the two 'anti-imperialist' governments: Libya, with its long history of deep hostility towards the U.S., and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was still less than nine years old but had just endured an eight-year-long war with Iraq, had countless reasons for its enmity towards America. Lockerbie village. After the plane's crash, initial speculations about the order to shoot down the plane revolved around Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was still alive, and Muammar Gaddafi, known for his confidence and challenges to the Arab world. Iran's name was initially more prominently mentioned as it was still mourning the deaths of the passengers of a plane that had been shot down by the USS Vincennes in the Persian Gulf five months earlier, adding to the sorrow of thousands caused by the devastating Iran-Iraq War; a wound that remains unforgettable for Iranians, which is rekindled every time they remember that the commander of the American ship was awarded a medal of bravery. It was claimed that Iran had issued the order for revenge, and skilled Palestinian forces experienced in such terrorist activities were enlisted to carry it out; it was said that Hezbollah, in its early years, did not yet have the 'rich experience' of Palestinian organizations; at that time, the name Ahmad Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, emerged as the 'winner of the bid' to execute this terrorist plot. However, after a while, the West's finger of blame increasingly pointed towards Libyan intelligence organizations; the British, showcasing their intelligence prowess to the world, persistently insisted on accusing Libya, with British leaders repeatedly demanding that Gaddafi hand over his intelligence agents involved in the bombing for trial. The insistence on extraditing Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a senior officer of Libyan Airlines and a key figure in its national security agency, occupied Western and Middle Eastern media for years. Megrahi was convicted of murder and sentenced to 270 life sentences after a lengthy trial in 1998. However, he developed cancer in a Scottish prison and was returned to Libya in 2009 while dying; he was welcomed back with open arms and adorned with a wreath. Megrahi lived long enough to witness Gaddafi's downfall and died on May 20, 2012, at the age of 60 due to cancer progression. He maintained his innocence until his death, claiming he had suffered a great injustice that he left to God for retribution. Another intelligence officer from Libyan intelligence, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted in court and had long returned to his country. However, in 2003, shortly before Gaddafi canceled his country's nuclear plans based on an agreement in December that year and sought to reconcile with the West, he compensated the families of the victims of the American plane and the survivors of the Lockerbie massacre with $1.7 billion. Nevertheless, the saga of Megrahi, Libyan intelligence, and the accusations continued until the last days of Gaddafi's regime; it was believed that the armed individuals who killed the deposed ruler on October 20, 2011, with a bullet on a road near Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, perhaps buried at least part of the truth of the Lockerbie incident forever with those bullets. Douglas Boyd himself wrote in the Daily Mail that Ali Akbar Mohtashami, the then-Minister of Interior of the Islamic Republic of Iran, provided the necessary authority and funds for the leader's demands. Now, seven years after Gaddafi's disgraceful death, an American author has fundamentally exonerated Gaddafi and Libya and introduced another anti-American ruler who has been buried for three decades as the one who ordered the explosion of the American plane; Ruhollah Khomeini. British media recently reported the release of a book by Douglas Boyd titled 'Lockerbie: The Truth,' in which the author claims that the founder of the Islamic Republic personally issued the order for revenge against the Americans. Douglas Boyd himself wrote in the Daily Mail that Ali Akbar Mohtashami, the then-Minister of Interior of the Islamic Republic of Iran, provided the necessary authority and funds for the leader's demands; he, whose name is also associated with the founding of Hezbollah in Lebanon and takes pride in it, is still alive and living in Tehran, although he is being pursued by the West for other assassinations. Douglas Boyd bases his accusation particularly on the statements of a former Iranian intelligence officer who fled to the West. This source is likely Abolqasem Misbahi, who also testified against the Iranian regime in the 'Mykonos' massacre. This source reportedly told Boyd that Iran, burning with the desire for revenge for the deaths of 290 passengers of its plane in the Persian Gulf, entrusted the task to 'skilled' individuals like Jibril to ensure that the large payment he would receive was worth it. Douglas Boyd added in the Daily Mail that Iran and the bombers agreed on $7.7 million; at the initial handshake over this 'cooperation agreement,' Iran immediately paid $1.5 million of this amount. Jibril, like many Palestinian leaders, had also fallen in love with the anti-American revolution in Iran and initially sent Mohammad Hussein Zolghamuni, a 30-year-old officer from his front, to the town of Krosvach in Serbia, where this front had explosives stored. According to Boyd, Zolghamuni also received orders from Jibril to 'wake up' several 'sleeping' forces of this front in Germany and engage them in this plan. The following month, Marwan Khreesat, a seasoned bomb maker, also arrived in the town of Neuss near Düsseldorf, Germany; where German police have a lot of footage of his movements. Because the execution of Iran's intentions depended on the 'skilled' hands of Khreesat. Boyd writes that Khreesat made bombs that he was confident would detonate without being detected in security checks by being concealed in suitcases, obliterating the entire plane and all passengers without leaving a trace. It is likely that air security measures were still not as stringent and serious in countries like Germany and Britain at that time as they are today. Douglas Boyd wrote that the initial plan of the bombers was to carry out a terrorist plot at Frankfurt Airport, where most of them had gathered nearby, and German police monitored their activities in purchasing computers, batteries, alarm clocks, wires, and other equipment. The phones of the 'Cyprus' kebab restaurant, where Jibril's forces gathered, were also under surveillance (at that time, there were no mobile phones). Douglas Boyd wrote that Khreesat, in one of his phone calls from this kebab restaurant to agents in Damascus, the capital of Syria, said that he had made changes to the 'prepared medicine' and 'it is now much stronger than before.' According to the Daily Mail, Khreesat said on October 24, 1988, in a phone call to Amman, the capital of Jordan, that 'the medicines will be completed in a few days.' Khreesat did not make one bomb, but five powerful and professional bombs, and concealed them in cassette tapes that were used in those years, of the Toshiba model. He calculated that exactly 38 minutes after takeoff, when he wanted, it would go off. However, the CIA warned of a potential terrorist attack in those days; German police searched many apartments, including an apartment in Neuss and houses linked to terrorist forces in Frankfurt. Khreesat, Zolghamuni, and several other suspects were stopped in a vehicle and were at risk of being expelled from Germany. But the bombs had already been made and transported. According to reports from the British Express, a Palestinian collaborator of Jibril and an Iranian named Abu Elias, who conveyed orders from the Islamic Republic, sent the shipments through those who worked for the Iranians at Frankfurt Airport, among the cargo that was loaded onto the Pan American plane. The goal was for the bombs to detonate after the plane took off from Heathrow towards the West. And so it happened; the rest is history. The night of the explosion was also the night of Yalda for Iranians; if the accusations made in the hundreds of pages of Douglas Boyd's book are true, it seems that the masterminds of the American plane explosion celebrated the news of its crash on that Yalda night in Tehran. Douglas Boyd believes that the person who smuggled the bomb into the plane's cargo is still alive and works under the name Basal Bushnaq at a school in America, in the political heart of America; Washington, D.C. German media had published reports for years based on the testimonies of Abolqasem Misbahi, but this is the first time these contents have been comprehensively published in an American book. According to Douglas Boyd, the accusations against Libya and the distancing of the West from accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran resulted from Western anger towards Saddam Hussein, the then-ruler of Iraq, due to Saddam's attack on Kuwait in the summer of 1990. While Saddam was overlooked by the West due to his eight-year war with Iran, he suddenly fell from grace due to his attack on Kuwait, and the West sought to take revenge on him; Boyd claims that the U.S. and Britain were looking to appease Iran and Syria and shifted the blame from Iran to Libya. According to the British Express, Douglas Boyd believes that the person who smuggled the bomb into the plane's cargo is still alive and works under the name Basal Bushnaq at a school in America; right in the political heart of America; Washington, D.C. Douglas Boyd himself wrote in the Daily Mail that Basal Bushnaq took this name under the 'Witness Protection' program and lives in America. However, he wrote that if this is true, it would be a new scandal. British media have shown the most interest in Douglas Boyd's book; perhaps they have been preoccupied with this issue for years. According to the Express, this book also seriously questions the honesty and integrity of Tony Gauci's testimony; Gauci testified in court that he sold a suit to Megrahi that was wrapped around the bomb-laden cassette tapes. Gauci had previously been under suspicion of receiving money in connection with the investigation into the crash of this plane. Megrahi, Gaddafi, and Saddam have long been buried under a pile of dirt; it was rumored that Ahmad Jibril was killed in the August 26, 2014 bombing by al-Qaeda, but his death has not been officially confirmed to this day; if he is alive, he is now 80 years old; Israelis still consider him alive; Marwan Khreesat reportedly died in October 2016. Saddam's fate, who was pulled out of a hole and later executed, was much more bitter than Gaddafi's; Gaddafi was killed five years after Saddam's execution. However, Abu Elias, Basal Bushnaq, and Ali Akbar Mohtashami are alive. The book has been published at a time when accusations of terrorism are heavily loaded against the Iranian government, and the flames of threats against Tehran's leaders are rising from the political heart of America to Israel and Arab countries like Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. Iran will certainly deny its role and label the book 'another lie.' Denials from all sides may not diminish the excitement of Douglas Boyd's book for readers and those interested in such matters.